Heating furnace



. l, 1931. l. w. FRIANK ETAL HEATING FURNACE Filed Dec. 31, 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet l Dec. 1, 1931. l. w. FRANK EIVAL HEATING FURNACE Filed Dec. 31, 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet 55 1, {I w NK ET AL HEATING FURNACE Filed Dec. 31, 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 I. FRANK ETAL HEATING FURNACE Filed Dec. 31. 192'! 5 Sheets-Shut 5 INVENTORS 4V. We 8.

Patented Dec. 1, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ISAAC W. FRANK, OF PIT'l'gBURGH, AND FLORENCE C. BIGGERT, JB., OF GRAFTON, 2mm- SYLVAN'IA, AND THOMAS J'- COSTELLO, OF WARREN, OHIO, ASSIGNOBS 'I'O UNITED ENGINEERING do FOUNDRY COMPANY, 011 PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A COR- PORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA HEATING FURNACE Application filed December 81, 1927. Serial No. 243,844.

The present invention relates broadly to the art of heating or heat treating furnaces, and more particularly to an improved furnace structure and method of operating the 5 same whereby the material being heated is caused to travel in such manner that more uniform heating thereof is obtained.

In the accompanying drawings there are shown for purposes of illustration only, cer- [9 tain preferred embodiments of our invention,

it being understood that the drawings do not define the limits of our invention as changes in the construction and operation of the furnaces may be made without departing either 5 from the spirit of our invention or the scope of our broader claims.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a partial horizontal sectional view through one form of the furnace constructed :0 in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse sectional view, on an enlarged scale, through the furnace Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1 illustrat-' :5 ing a slightly modified embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 4t is a detailed view, on an enlarged scale and artl broken away, illustrating a I portion of the driving and supporting struco ture for the conveying members.

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view along the line 55 ofFig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a vertical transverse sectional view through the furnace of Fig. 3, a portion of one 5 of the supporting and conveying members being shown in section.

Fig. 7 is a detail sectional view," on an enlarged scale, through a slightly modified. form of conveying member.

i Fig. 8 is a View similar to Fig. 7 illustrating still another embodiment of the invention, and

Fig. 9 is a diagrammatic view illustrating one manner of forming a conve ing member.

5 In the art of heating materia such for example as billets, it is desirable to eflect as uniform a heating as possible. In accordance with the resent invention this is accomplished by e eating a rotational movement l of the billets about their own axes simultaneously with their longitudinal travel through It is also desirable, in accordance with the present invention, to obtain a travel of the billets in such manner that a successive dis, charge of the billets is effected. By such an operation, billets may be delivered as desired, and substantially the same length of time of heating for each of the billets is insured.

The word billets is herein used in its generic sense, as a word of definition, and not as a word of limitation, it bein inclusive of a variety of shapes and sizes 0 material, as will be readily understood by those skilled in the art.

- In accordance with the embodiment of Figures 1 and 2 of the invention, there may be provided a furnace of any usual construction, having side walls 2, carrying a roof 3,

and provided with supporting buckstays 4 tied together in any usual manner. The side walls of the furnace are formed with openings 5 through which extend shafts 7, mounted in bearings 8. These bearings may conveniently be carried by angle bars 9, extendin'g longitudinally of the furnace on opposite s1 es thereof, and secured in any desired 7 manner to the buckstays.

Each of the bearings 8 preferably has a pivotal mounting 10 by which it is secured to its oooperatin angle bar whereby the shafts? may be a justed angularly with respect to the stays 4 to provide any desired inclination thereof as indicated, for example,

in Fig. 1. In accordance with this embodiment of the invention, the angular adjust' ment may be obtained by efiecting longitudinal movement of one of the an is bars in one direction or the'other, as may e desired,

and then bolting it in its adjusted position to the buckstays.

The shafts are indicated as provided with enlarged central portions shaped in such manner as to form a series of guide grooves 11 for the billets B. The guide grooves of the successive conveying members define KW vidual conveying member, however, extending at an angle to the actual line of travel,

as will be readily apparent. The shafts of the conveying members may be interconnected in any desired manner as, by sprockets and sprocket chains 12, whereby all of the conveying members may be caused to travel in unison. v I

In the actual use of the furnace, with the conveying members rotating, the billets are successively placed in position in the adjacent guide grooves with adjacent billets offset in the direction of travel as clearly shown a in Fig. 1. By thus placing the billets, the

rotation of the rolls causes a successive delivery of the billets the billet first in the furnace being the first delivered, whereby the same time of heating for successive billetswill be insured.

Due to the inclination of the supporting membersrelative to the line of travel of the billets, the billets are caused to rotate on their own longitudinal axes simultaneously with their travel through the furnace, the rate of rotation bein determined by the angularity of the gui e grooves 11, which in turn isvariable'in the manner set forth. By reason of this construction, therefore, the material to be heated may be simultaneously conveyed endwise through the furnace and caused to continuously rotate about its own axis so that different portions are successive- ,ly subjected to the same temperature condi trons. In Figures 3 to 6, both inclusive, we have shown a slightly modified embodiment of the invention, in which theshafts 7' are of hollow construction to facilitate the passage of a cooling medium therethrough, The bearings 8 are likewise of modified con struction embodying open top bearings of the well known grind stone type, including anti-friction rolls 13. One of t e angle bars 9 is formed with a plurality of sets of openings 14, one set for each of the bearings, and each set preferably including 3 or more openings. Each of the bearings 8 may be formed with a pin 15;, adapted to extend into any one of the openings. When positioned in the center opening of each set, the rollswill extend in a direction substantially normal to the longitudinal axis of the furnace as indicated by a few of the left hand rolls and the two extreme right hand rolls of Fig. 3.

When the pin 15 of one of the bearings is moved into one of the side openings, the rolls will assume an angular relation to the furnace, as indicated by the central group of rolls of Fig. 3. By varying the number of openings 14, any desired angularity may be obtained. At the same time, the position of all of the rolls may be adjustedsimultaneously by lengthwise movement of one of the angle bars 9', such movement being permitted by reason of the slots 16 formed therein as shown in Fig. 4.

For driving the shafts 7', each shaft may have secured thereto a sprocket 17, all of which are adapted t0 cooperate with a sprocket chain 18, the chain being held in driving engagement with each of the sprockets by a backing up and guide plate 19 secured to the bearings.

is prevented or minimized. The sectional construction permits rapid fabrication of the rolls and enables rolls of different lengths, and rolls having guide grooves spaced differept distances to be easily produced.

embodiment of the invention in which the conveying members may comprise hollow shafts 77 carrying heads 21 on which is supported a covering 22 herein illustrated as comprisin a sheet of corrugated metal. The distance between the heads 21 is such as to cooperate with alternate corrugations, the dis tance between the corrugations being such that alternate corrugations provide guide grooves in which the billets may travel. The main body of the roll intermediate the heads may be filled with a suitable relatively poor heat conducting material 23.

In Fig. 8 there is illustrated an embodiment of the invention generally similar to that of Fig. 7 with the exception that the heads 21 are omitted and the filling 24 is of such nature as to give suiiicient rigidity as to prevent deformation of the rolls.

In Fig. 9 there is illustrated diagram matically an arrangement of rolls 25 adapted to take a sheet of corrugated material M and bend it into circular form for use as a roll. cover, as will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art.

' A furnace constructed in accordance with our invention provides all of the desired features of furnaces now in use with respect to the actual conveyance of material there through, and the supporting of the material during its travel, with the additional advantages of producing rotation of the material about its own longitudinal axis to effect more uniform heating thereof. The rate of rota tion and the direction of rotation may be varied at will by changing the amount of, direction or inclination of the guide grooves of the individual rolls relative to the actual line of travel established by all of the rolls.

7 at In Fig. 7 there is illustrated still another The feature of individual adjustment of the rolls is likewise of advantage in that it enables certain of the rolls to be angularly adjusted to effect rotation of the material during the travel the one portion of the furnace while other rolls may be maintained at substantially right angles to the direction of the travel of the material to merely advance the same. Thus the rolls adjacent the entering and discharging ends of the furnace may be maintained in normal positions with the intermediate rolls inclined, whereby during the charging and discharging the billets are merely caused to travel in a straight line, thereby facilitating placing of the billets in position and removal of the same from the furnace.

A further advantage of our invention arises from the placing of successive billets in ofiset relation whereby successive discharge of the billets in the order in which they were charged into the furnace is obtained.

Our invention is susceptible of embodiment in a furnace of a wide variety of she es, sizes and constructions, it being principa ly characterized by conveying members extending at, or adapted to be placed at, an angle to the line of travel of the material, or having such constructional characteristics that longitudinal travel of the material is accompanied by such a movement thereof as to insure more nearly uniform heating.

1. In an elongated horizontal furnace, a

. plurality of supporting rolls having circumferential grooves adapted to receive elonated articles'to be conveyed, means for adgusting the angular relation of said rolls to the longitudinal axis of the furnace and associated with at least'certain of the respective rolls, supporting means for the rolls, and slot means associated with the supporting means and cooperatin with the pin positioning means to adjustab y support said rolls.

5. A furnace com rising a pluralit of material sup rting ro ls, and means se ectively operable or adjusting the angularity of certain of said rolls and for simultaneously adjusting the angularity of a predetermined group of said rolls.

6. An elongated horizontal continuous heating furnace, provided with a plurality of article-supporting rolls having a pluralit of aligned circumferential grooves adapte to receive cylindrical articles and to convey them into, through and out of the furnace, a plurality of the rolls at each end of the furnace being disposed at right angles to its longitudinal axis to charge said articles into and discharge them from .the furnace without rotating them on their axes, the intermediate rolls being disposed at an angle to said axis to rotate said articles on their axes, and means for simultanenously driving all of said rolls.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands.

ISAAC W. FRANK.

FLORENCE G. BIGGERT, JR. THOMAS J. COSTELLO.

means for simultaneously driving said rolls in any of their angularly adjusted positions.

2. In an elongated horizontal furnace, a plurality ferentia configurations adapted to receive articles to be conveyed through the furnace, said rolls being disposed at substantially right angles to the longitudinal axis of the furnace, and supporting means for the rolls having provision for separately adjusting the angular disposition of the separate rolls relative to the axis of the furnace.

3. In an elongated horizontal furnace, a plurality of supporting rolls having circumferential configurations adapted to receive articles to be conveyed through the furnace, said rolls being disposed at substantially right angles to the longitudinal axis of the furnace, and supporting means for the rolls having provision for separately usting the angular disposition of the separate rolls rela tive to the axis of the furnace, and for adjusting the angular positions of all of the rolls.

4. A furnace comprising a plurality of material supporting rolls, pin positioning means of supporting rolls having circum-' 

